DIY Furniture Removalists

Considering a 'do-it-yourself' furniture removal? More and more people are looking to save a buck when moving by doing it themselves in a hire truck. On first impression, it may appear that renting a moving truck or van to move yourself is going to save you cash but have you considered all angles to the DIY approach?

In this article we discuss the pro's and con's of hiring a moving truck for DIY removals versus hiring professional furniture removalists.

The first, and most obvious, cost of the DIY move is the hiring of the moving truck. It's usually pretty cheap. You should ask about the cost of excess reduction for your insurance though. It's not usually on the advertisements for the truck hire company. If you don't take out excess reduction insurance though you could be up for huge charges if you should return the vehicle with so much as an additional stone chip! If you're going to hire a moving truck for a DIY move be sure to read the fine print or you may just end up paying for more than you bargained for.

So you've hired the moving truck. What else do you need to get your move done right? You're going to need some proper furniture removal pads/blankets to protect your furniture in the truck. Regular sheets and blankets don't provide the necessary padding and are likely to slip. You're going to need some proper furniture removal ties. These are designed to tie up furniture in a moving truck. Normal ropes aren't good for this because they may stretch and don't provide the same traction to prevent loosening in transit, allowing your furniture to shift in the truck. They're also flat, so they don't cut into your furniture like regular ropes may. You're likely to want a trolley to cart all those boxes to the hire truck too. The cost of hiring all these items can quickly add up and they'll often not be included in the base rate to hire the moving truck.

Have you calculated the cost of the fuel for the moving truck? Trucks are pretty expensive to run and the cost of fuel is only going to increase over time. In the fine print of your rental agreement for the hire truck you'll likely find a clause requiring the fuel tank to be full upon return or you'll be charged a premium rate for the truck hire company to fill it up for you.

Are you hiring the moving truck on an hourly or daily basis? You may be paying the truck costs for an entire day, when you would have only paid a professional removalist for a few hours. If you're hiring the truck on an hourly basis do you think you'd have it loaded, unloaded and returned faster than it would take professional removalists to get your job done? Whether you're charged at an hourly or daily rate you might find that the savings are quickly drying up.

By hiring professional furniture removalists you know that you're getting experience. Getting your furniture moved safely and intact is not as easy as it sounds. It's hard work and requires experience and skill to minimise damage and to get the job done in a reasonable amount of time.

Hiring rental moving trucks to do-it-yourself may appear to be the cheapest and most hassle-free option, but you should make sure that you're fully aware of all the costs and work involved before you commit. Be sure that your hard work is going to equate to significant savings - or any savings at all...